Warming Up
by Vietta
Summary: In Modeoheim Zack, Cloud, and Tseng have to find shelter from a storm in an abandoned cabin. It's cold, and they have to figure out how to stay warm.


Zack shivered and waited impatiently for Tseng and the trooper with him to catch up. Modeoheim was colder than Shiva's tits and Zack was sick of it. He vainly wished they had stayed by the crashed helicopter; at least the fire had kept them warm. He watched as Cloud stuffed his head into his helmet, desperately trying to keep his reddening face warm as the cold mountain winds buffeted his already rosy cheeks. Zack could feel his lips beginning to chap and crack because of the moisture-stealing winds and he ran his tongue over them to try and keep them hydrated. "Hurry the hell up, Tseng! This storm isn't going to sit and knit while you take your sweet time!"

Tseng yelled back in his casual monotone, but the dull sound was carried off by the thieving winds that had already sucked warmth from every inch of Zack's exposed skin. Zack sighed and started squatting to try and raise the temperature in his body, growling in frustration as the horrid winds blew away any of the comforting heat. Cloud took his lead and began squatting too, sniffling softly as the snot in his nose began freezing. "Why does Tseng," squat, "have to go," squat, "so slow, Zack?"

Zack shrugged and kept squatting. "Maybe he's," squat, "trying to see," squat, "how long he can," squat, "stand the cold?" Zack caught the hint of a smile peeking out from under Cloud's helmet and grinned as they squatted in unison. "Maybe we," squat, "should go ahead," squat, "without them?"

Cloud nodded and stood, muscles already starting to warm up from the exercise. "There's a cabin over there. It doesn't look like anyone's home. Could we stay there till the storm blows over?"

Zack nodded and grabbed Cloud's hand, racing towards the cabin in the distance with his blonde friend in tow. He was freezing his ass off and if Tseng wanted to dawdle, then Tseng could dawdle. He, however, was going to find some godsdamned warmth.

The cabin was empty as Cloud had assumed and Zack had to fight with the door to make it open. It wasn't any warmer inside the cabin than it was outside the cabin, but there was some relief from the biting winds to look forward to. Zack quickly rushed to the ash filled fireplace and started piling wood he found in a box beside the grate onto the cold, stone floor. He had to dry and thaw the wood before it would light and he began doing so quickly, shivering quietly as Cloud bustled around behind him.

Cloud went around the house and shut windows, drawing the ratty curtains closed over them in an effort to keep out more of the horrendous cold. Some snow had built up inside the house and Cloud cleared it away as Zack started a fire, pushing the cold flakes outside with a cobweb coated broom he found in a closet. As he swept snow outside he looked for Tseng and Justin, the trooper who was with Tseng, but had trouble seeing through the thick white wall of wind and snow. Soon enough, however, two dark shapes stumbled out of the wall and walked shakily toward the cabin. Cloud pulled the two frozen figures into the house just as Zack got the fire going.

Tseng stayed a respectable distance away from the fire as he took stock of the house, but Justin was barely far enough away to keep from burning himself. His blue fingers and bright red nose were a testament to how unsuited for the weather they all were. "W-was b-better when it w-was s-sunny!"

Cloud nodded and tried to resist the urge to shove his own icy fingers into the blistering hot flames. "No kidding!"

Zack followed Tseng and hummed softly as the cabin grew warmer. "So we can stay here for the night?"

Tseng nodded and tried to hold back his shivers. "Yes. It would be foolish for us to try and continue in this weather." Tseng sighed in relief as he found a few moth-eaten blankets in a bedroom. "Go wrap one of these around Justin. He's going to burn to death if he gets any closer to that fire."

Zack nodded and took the blanket to the living room. He tugged Cloud and Justin away from the fire and draped the blanket around Justin's shoulders, grinning as the boy drew the thin fabric closer. "Does that help?"

Justin nodded and curled in on himself at the foot of a chair. "Y-yeah! Much b-better!"

Tseng came in and held up two blankets. "There's only two left; unless one of us shares there won't be enough to go around."

Zack grinned and took a blanket from Tseng, "Me and Cloud will share! He can be my bed-bug tonight!"

Cloud blushed and Tseng rolled his eyes. "You want to sleep on the bed we found?" Tseng was surprised; the bed was lumpy, dusty, and moldy. Tseng was afraid that if they actually spent the night on it like they planned; Zack and Cloud would catch a horribly infective fungal disease of some sort or get eaten alive by the rats whose droppings he had found in another room. When he thought of it, however, they all risked being eaten by rats while sleeping there.

Zack nodded and tossed the blanket to Cloud, who fumbled with it slightly as he caught it. "Yeah, I do. It looks waaay more comfortable than the floor or that nasty couch you'll be sleeping on."

Tseng sighed, "You'll be in a room with no fireplace, Zack. You'll freeze."

Zack grinned and wrapped an arm around Cloud's shoulders. "Not with my bed-bug heater-box sleeping with me! We'll be fine. If worse comes to worse I'll just set the house on fire. We'll be warm enough then, right?"

Tseng frowned at Zack pointedly as he sat on the couch. "You will not set this cabin on fire, understood?"

Zack laughed and nodded, tugging Cloud into the only room with a bed. "Sir, yes sir!"

Tseng sighed and rolled his eyes, fairly sure he knew why Fair wanted to bunk with the blushing cadet. He looked over at Justin who had fallen asleep less than a foot from the fire and chuckled softly, thinking that maybe, just maybe, Zack had a point. Justin was still shivering even though he had a blanket and was close enough to the fire that Tseng could see him starting to smolder. He sighed and stood, tugging his blanket around his shoulders as he pulled Justin off the floor. He settled down on the couch with the chilled cadet and draped his blanket over him too. Justin's near constant shivers soon started to fade as Tseng's body heat warmed him and Tseng tried to fall asleep before he would have to hear Zack decide that he and Cloud would resort to other methods to get warm.

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Author's Note: Heehee! I proved that I can resist the temptation to write a steamy lemon scene in all my stories! Take that people-who-never-complained-about-my-steamy-lemons! You shan't get one today!


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